By Blessing Wikina
This discussion, for years, has been left in the hands of jobbers, and persons with an assumed entitlement tag, for too long, to the point where they begin to assume themselves as oracles of Ogoniland.
But nobody, no one person is an oracle. Nobody also have the monopoly of opinion on this our matter, apart from the traditionally recognised institutions who have the mandate to speak for the people. Every son and daughter of Ogoni is a stakeholder in the project called Ogoni.
If you traverse through the kingdoms of Ogoni today, naked poverty would stare you in the face. Not because the land is not richly blessed, not because the people are lazy or don’t know anything, but decades of neglect from successive governments of the day at Federal, State and Local authorities had impacted the area negatively
Ogoni land is one of the biggest testament of government failure anywhere in the world today. But should we all die and wither away just because we’re waiting for a slumbering government to wake up to its responsibility?
Would it not be foolhardy for anyone to die of thirst while he swims in an ocean? Heaven help those who help themselves as they say, and this is a time to help ourselves.
I don’t think it makes any sense for our loved ones to suffer and die in penury while we sit on a land rich in “milk and honey”, to recall the famous jingle way back on Radio Rivers
A Throwback
I recall years ago, a cathartic experience I had, while watching a TV program on AIT, where-in stakeholders drawn from Ogoni Kingdoms endorsed the Resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni land.
As at then, Felix Mamode Akugha, AIT’s media anchor, was reporting directly from the Palace of the Gbene Mene Tai, King G. N. K. Gininwa (of Blessed Memories) as the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, the highest decision-making body in the land, endorsed the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni, and there was not a single voice of dissent.
All the recognised youth bodies in Ogoni had then come together, under the umbrella of National Youth Council of Ogoni people (NYCOP), and spoken in favour of the resumption of exploration activities.
There was a combination of unity and visionary leadership on display. They say what an elder sees sitting down is more than what a child sees standing on an Iroko tree.
The world economy today is fast moving away from oil, and any good Elder would align the future of his people with those of the rest of the world for progress.
Today, Many thanks to the President Tinubu initiated Ogoni Dialogue Committee, led by Prof Don Baridam, ArchBishop Ignatius Katey, Hon Joe Poroma, and Tom Orage, who discharged their assignment acceptably, as they combed through Ogoni consulting everyone. They were reachable, accessible, approachable and ready to discuss.
Maybe, who knows, spirits were consulted too, as every segment voluntarily made presentations to the Committee, including Ogonis in diaspora.
All over the world, including, France, U.K. Norway, etal, have all given loud notice indicating to ban petrol cars from between 2025-2040, as they tweak their policies in favour of electric and alternative energy in their countries.
Even though Nigeria and other developing countries may still depend on oil for sometime, how much value would the product have when the major economies stop depending on it? Its value may as well be like the value of coal in the international market now.
We saw how the rapidly growing production of US Shale Oil affected the global oil price not too long ago, making that country less and less dependent on Nigerian crude oil.
So the future of the world lies far away from fossil fuel, and nobody who is properly enlightened and genuinely loves Ogoni people would want us to occupy the unenviable position of a people who not only wasted their God-given natural resources, but who, like the story of five talents in the Bible, did nothing with it or simply buried it underground.
So oil exploration should resume again, and it must start immediately.
There is nothing government would do for us now that can speed up the process of development in the area more than the presence of daily major oil industry activities, plus it’s downstream multiple actions.
Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni people, has only two banks as at now, and I can count on one hand the number of banks in Eleme apart from the oil & Gas free zone. Tai and Gokana do not have any bank in their domain.
This is not because those banks hate the Ogoni people. It is also not about violence and crime in the area caused by poverty, but mainly because our 1.5 million poor population, without alternative asset base, cannot sustain the presence of a bank as much as oil industries can.
If they come, and open more Bank branches, they will collapse for lack of patronage and financial movements. Bonny is just beside us, and daily cash transactions and bill payments on the Island is in Billions. You could see and believe freshness, happiness, and laughter amongst them. Warri people say “money nah man”
If you want speedy development then there must be investments that drive economic activities to the area.
Oil Industry sources indicate that producing, transporting, Refining, and marketing one barrel of oil alone creates about 6,000 local investment opportunities, so imagine what would happen when exploration and extraction, starts in the Ogoni area again.
Those who were benefiting from the status quo, and laptop militants had earlier used the Clean-up of Ogoni as an excuse saying “Clean-up before Exploration”.
Now that item had been ticked, but they forgot to add that the Clean-up would take 30 years, and by that time no serious country would be importing oil again.
Who says clean up and exploration cannot start alongside each other? The Ogoni bill of rights did not say clean up must start first before exploration, neither did it say exploration should not happen at all.
All we need is a fair deal from the companies coming in, a deal that stands up to global best practices. Nothing more, nothing less.
We must trust the process, and outcome of The Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC) Facilitators, and urge the coordinating office of the National Security Advisor, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, to continue with this team until the first new Christmas Tree on Ogoni Oil field is installed once again.
Dere, Bomu, and Bodo West Wells of Gokana, plus Ogale, Ebubu, Ejamaa fields in Eleme, and Korokoro facilities in Tài, as well as Yorla fields in Khana axis near Kono my village, want to breathe again the air of prosperity.
At the height of the Ogoni crisis, the OML 11 was somewhat “unbundled” years ago after SPDC pulled out, to allow for the restiveness to stop. And this automatically, led to the exit of oil-related economic daily hustles. Leaving behind a stagnated barren economy, and immense environmental wahala.
Apart from the five officially acknowledged Ogoni oil fields of Yorla, Bodo West, Bomu, Korokoro, and Ebubu, other producing clusters exist in the OML 11, according to sources familiar with the oil terrain. These are Ukwa West or Oza fields, and the Andoni or Otatikpo & Asaramotoru fields, for which oil explorations are on-going, as we speak, by Lekoil and Greenfield JV1.
Following this scenerio of oil operations in neighbouring fields beside Ogoni, a Viral rumour crept out, that oil operators are using lateral drilling to access all Ogoni oil fields. Suspicion moved in, and Ogonis become more alert and untrusting of government intensions on Ogoni Oil
Hear what an informed oil expert, and a former staff of SPDC told me “as to whether there is directional drilling into the reservoirs in the Ogoni acreage, I cannot say, as I don’t know the sub-surface structures, and whether there is any straddling in these fields”. Continuing, the Ogoni born oil expert, who is retired, added, “for now, there is no dedicated operator in Ogoni today who would have overseen unitized operations of the field.
But looking at the braid structure of OML 11, without an operator in the field now, only the NUPRC, which is now headed by Senator Magnus Abe, an Ogoni boy, can tell us what volume are being produced for each of the reservoirs in OML 11″
This seem to me, an added insight into the need for why it is germane, and proper that oil Resumption in Ogoni should commence….for the interest of the Ogonis, and for the economic benefits of the children coming after this generation.
The insignificant number of persons who are masquerading via online statements opposed to oil exploration in Ogoni should know they’re not serving the interest of their people.
Ogoni Laptop militants who are issuing statements trying to delay the Resumption process as a way to make personal profits, political gains, out of it should also know they’re joking with the future of a people. There should be a boundary to agitation.
The Positions of the Communities canvassed publicly, captured orally, and in documents, presented to the Ogoni Dialogue Committee is superior, and had buried such personal insincere desires….except those persons don’t come from Ogoni communities.
Those sponsoring unscrupulous elements who we know cannot do any of the things they’re doing on their own should, also know they can’t get in the way of Ogoni progress.
When it comes to oil exploration in Ogoni, like some of my friends would say, the time is now!
Even though our Oil nah mineral, we no go fit drink am like shackis . We go use am for development, now.
Via the Ogoni decade long agitations, the body language in the industry had changed and tilted in favour of the host communities. Companies now know that the era of trampling on the rights, and slots meant for host communities is stale, sterile, and dangerous. “Abi I go lie for you” as social media puts it.
The Ogoni nationality, under the leadership of KAGOTE, and I call out it’s President, Lesi Maol should lead Ogonis out, and re-admit Oil Resumption activities in Ogoniland. Ogonis can go a step further, and demand operatorship of the five Ogoni oil fields, under a JV, like the system operating in the neighbouring Andoni fields.
This present Govt, through the office of the National Security Adviser, had shown some trust, consistency, and value in the demands of the Ogoni people, which the facilators, Prof Don Baridam, Bishop Ignatius Kattey, Joe Poroma and Tom Orage, and the Ogoni Dialogue Committee,(ODC) had done.
William Shakespeare had since usthat “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune……”
Ogoni should take this fortune now by flowing with this tide…..after years of tears, trauma, temptations, trials, and deaths.
Blessing Wikina, Journalist, Rtd Director of Information, Media Consultant.
